by Kevin Estrada

CAPAS, TARLAC — The Philippines christened the New Clark City Stadium by defeating Maldives 4-1 to open their Asian Cup Qualifiers Tuesday evening.

In their first Group A tie, Albert Capellas’ men hounded the Red Snappers for the whole ninety minutes as it got them the good headstart they need, the win puts them on top of Group A after Tajikistan could only muster a 1-0 win over East Timor in the other tie.

Jefferson Tabinas got the Filipinos ahead in the sixth minute after latching on the header of his brother Paul, with Bjørn Martin Kristensen doubling the hosts’ lead thirteen minutes later.

Winterthur midfielder Randy Schneider had a hand on both of these goals on his debut cap, with the first coming from his corner, and directly assisted on the second as the Filipinos took a huge lead at the half.

However, the hopes of a clean sheet by Kevin Ray Mendoza was ripped by the Maldives counter, with Ali Fasir pulling one back in the 62nd minute, converting from an Hussain Sifaau cross from the right wing.

But the hosts would not be denied in front of 3334 supporters that trooped to Tarlac as Schneider restored normal operations fifteen minutes later, brushing aside Samooh Ali after getting the ball from Sandro Reyes before finding the back of the net to open his Philippines account.

Reyes would find himself on the scoresheet deep into stoppage time with a goal straight from the La Masia playbook. With the buildup from the back, Reyes fired with a right-footed rocket past Hussain Shareef to cap off a dominating performance.

PHILIPPINES: Mendoza (GK), Paul Tabinas (Curran 65’), Jefferson Tabinas, Nyholm, Reyes, Ott © (Rontini 82’), Kristensen (65’), Schneider, Bailey, Kempter (Baccay 46’), Rublico (Monis 65’)

MALDIVES: Shareef (GK), Samooh Ali ©, Numaan, Sifaau Yoosuf, Ali Fasir (Nazeem 85’), Aisam Ibrahim, Hamza Mohamed (Rizuvan 81’), Haisham Hassan, Ibrahim, Mahudhee (Raif Ahmed 81’), Naim (Naiz Hassan 46’), Nihan (Aiham 81’)
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